The Loneliest Girl in the Universe(51)

“Access denied. One attempt remaining.”

My gut clenches. If I can’t guess, then my plan is ruined. I feel sick.

“Is there a way to manually override the code?”

“Authorization code required.”

“Code…” I waver. The password could be anything at all, just a random string of letters. But I need to try. I need to get away.

I strain my brain, trying to think. Then it occurs to me. J’s mother’s name. He’s mentioned before how much he misses his parents. If anything he told me was true, it might be that. What were the names on the torpor pods? Jeremy Shoreditch. And—

“Code: Lucy?” I say.

There’s a pause, and then the computer says, “Code accepted. Would you like to become the new system administrator?”

I let out a little sigh of relief, leaning back against the wall.

“Yes, please. Close and secure airlock.”

J set his mother’s name as the ship’s most important password. There was some truth in what he told me – he loved his parents.

“Airlock deactivating. Air pressurization complete,” the computer replies after a second.

“Detach the ships, please.”

“Ship separation initiated.”

I listen, waiting for the sound of the separation. There’s nothing for almost a minute, and then a soft shudder rocks the floor.

“No longer in contact with The Infinity. Shall the ship continue on determined course?”

My blood pressure drops in seconds. “Yes, as fast as possible.”

“Acceleration in progress. Maximum velocity to be obtained.”

For almost ten minutes, I stand stock-still, trying to process everything that’s happened. I can’t believe I’m here. In those long, awful hours in the stores, I gave up all hope of getting away from J. My universe shrunk to him and finding a way to escape. Now my universe has expanded again, I don’t know what to do with it.

I lick my lips. They are dry and cracked after so long in the stores. I’m warming up, sweating a little. I hadn’t even noticed I was cold. But it’s hotter on this ship, just slightly. J must have reduced the temperature of The Infinity in his effort to force me out of the stores – or to make it easier to track me down with the heat sensor. The gravity is normal here too – not weighing me down when I move.

I shiver, despite the temperature. There’s blood on my legs and knuckles. When I touch the tips of my fingers to the wounds, my knees give out beneath me. I need to sit down.

“Computer, where is the helm?”

The voice in the ceiling doesn’t speak, but a green line lights up on the floor.

“Thank you!”

I’m quietly amazed. This ship is so cool. It makes mine look like it’s made out of papier maché.

I follow the line around the corner, down another long corridor, and then down another short corridor off that. The ship is huge – at least three times the size of The Infinity, based on what I can see so far. There are corridors upon corridors, leading off in every direction. It’s so big that I can’t believe it’s real. It hurts my brain just thinking about it.

Finally, I reach a chrome door that slides open as I approach.

Inside is J’s kingdom. The open-plan room is so clearly his that it makes me nervous. On one side is a bank of computer screens – that must be the helm. There’s also a wide bed against the wall, with sheets tangled up at the foot and pillows punched into balls. The sight of it is the last thing my exhausted brain can process before it gives up completely.

Now that I’m safe, I’m so tired and relieved that I don’t even look around. I pass out on J’s bed, dropping abruptly into complete unconsciousness.





HOURS SINCE THE ETERNITY CAUGHT UP:


38


When I wake up, every muscle in my body aches and I’m desperately thirsty.

I find three half-empty bottles of water and two packets of mac and cheese in a cupboard by the bed. I drink the contents of all three bottles, then eat both packets, crunching through the pasta. I’m starving, but I’m not quite ready to venture out of this room to try and find a proper kitchen.

I’m still wearing my nightie, so I search for clothes. There don’t seem to be any in this room, apart from a hoodie that has NASA written on the front in large, stylized letters. I roll up the sleeves of the hoodie and pull it on. It smells like person. I’d forgotten that other people have a smell.

Looking around makes me feel like I’m seeing inside J’s brain. Dinner packets are strewn on every surface, and there’s a tablet on the bed. I open it to find a paused video.

I recognize it as an episode of a TV show he used to talk about. Just like when I found out his password was his mother’s name, it catches me by surprise. I hadn’t expected any of the things he told me to actually be true. Wasn’t he pretending to be Jayden? But this wasn’t a lie: he really does watch the show.

Carefully, I click through each tab, seeing what books and essays he’s been reading, and what music he last listened to.

It’s … unnerving. He seems quite normal. He listened to pop music yesterday.

Can I really do this? Can I leave him behind? If he stays on The Infinity, he’ll be in his sixties before he makes it to Earth II, if he ever makes it at all.